Evacuating the Garden

When the National Weather Service issued a freeze warning, I must decide what to leave behind, what to cover, what to save.

The eggplants and melons make the cut.

I ponder over the lettuce. Should I cover it and hope it survives? Or should I harvest it all and eat lettuce for the next week? I harvest.

With the basil, I hedge my bets. After harvesting most of it, I cover the remaining plants.

The tomatoes make me feel guilty.

I fill a five-gallon bucket -- and could easily fill two more. But, I have neither the time nor the desire to make tomato sauce or can tomatoes. Nor, do I need to store any more tomatoes. Canned tomatoes have already encroached on the spouse's beer collection.

"I don't even like tomatoes," he says.

My mother-in-law eases the guilt and takes pounds of tomatoes.

I toss some to the chickens who, like me, have lost enthusiasm for tomatoes.

But even after that, there are tomatoes on the ground.

I decide to let them freeze.

Then, I grab a blanket and cover two heirloom tomato plants that are green and still producing.

Who knows. Maybe I'll crave tomatoes in November.